Rona Western Canada

Client: Rona, Inc.

Rona purchased Western Canada’s Revy stores to establish itself in the West. They wanted to be the Canadian answer to the American hardware giant, Home Depot.

To achieve that, Rona contracted Focus. We opened RONA stores across Alberta and trained additional agencies outside the province to do the same. We managed logistics, wrote speeches with local appeal, led employee communication, and staged photo ops that translated into impactful media stories.

We helped make Rona ubiquitous in the West.

We conveyed the Rona philosophy. Rona cared about community engagement and economically disadvantaged youth. Their scholarships got youth certified, so they could go directly into a trade without a degree. We relayed that brand message. And we communicated that Rona (unlike its competitors) had largely Canadian inventory. It cared about its communities and built stores that were the right size—with smaller depots in smaller towns, like Hinton and Grande Prairie, and larger ones in bigger centres.